(This article appeared in the Hindu on June 27, 2012.  The text of the entire article is reproduced below too)

Hiring interviews are part of a company’s recruitment process that seeks to provide it needed talent from the marketplace. As a manager, you will have several occasions to fill positions that are either new or have been recently vacated or when there is a need to plan succession.

Make a good hiring decision and you would have enabled high morale in your team, improved teamwork, lessened stress, increased productivity and opportunity and gained an enriched work environment.

Poor hiring decisions can result in disengaged and unmotivated employees, low team morale, loss of productivity as well as employee turnover.

Make no mistake; costs related to bringing on board a new employee are not insignificant; costs due to sourcing and recruiting, pre-screening, interviewing and reference checks combined with relocation, notice period buy-out and training costs are a huge burden to any company. Therefore, it behooves managers to invest time and effort in getting the job interview right. While one may not get every single hiring decision right, the following tips can assist in greatly reducing the occurrence of poor hiring decisions.

Do your homework

Start by developing a job description before the interview. Understand that the job will have primary and secondary skill requirements; these include technical, domain as well as behavioural skills.

Prepare a snapshot with details such as responsibilities, reporting relationships, expected working hours, travel and visa requirements, language and other skills that are needed to make the job a success.

Go one level deeper and get an internal consensus on what challenges are inherent in this position and what personal traits will be crucially needed to handle them. Find out if a psychometric assessment to indicate strengths is appropriate – this is fast becoming a standard practice for even non-leadership positions.

Set the stage

In the interview, start with helping the candidate feel at ease. You can establish rapport with a little humour and by acknowledging that interviews are naturally stressful situations. Explain the purpose of the interview and how you will conduct it.

Learn more, judge less

Take notes during the interview. These notes will later help you decide more effectively. Avoid boilerplate questions like “What are your top three strengths?” as you will not learn much from canned responses. Instead, ask open-ended questions that elicit specifics on what the candidate actually achieved and what he/she learned from challenges and mistakes, details that are sadly missing from most résumés.

Let the answers guide you to probe deeper on how the person handled a particular problem. Answers to such questions will reveal much about the candidate’s problem solving skills, decision making style, the ability to handle pressure, interpersonal skills and motivation. Needless to say, the responses will also demonstrate his/her ability to cogently articulate a problem scenario. Resist the urge to form opinions during the interview, although this is easier said than done.

It is said that we decide subconsciously within the first ten minutes of the interview and spend the next fifty minutes looking for confirming evidence. Be on guard against biases such as the ‘Halo Effect’ (this happens when you are overly impressed with a person’s education, appearance or language skills) or wanting to hire someone like you. While the comfort factor is important, hiring people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives contributes to a vibrant and creative workplace.

Send the right message

Ensure that the candidate has an overall positive experience at your company. Candidates who have been abandoned for hours in the lobby are unlikely to join even if selected. On the day of the interview, you are the face of your company and you have a powerful opportunity to let candidates know about your company’s culture, values, legacy and its plans for the future. Even if they do not ultimately join your organisation, their positive experience with you will make them speak highly of your company to their friends.

Steer clear of personal questions that are forbidden by your HR policies (questions on marital status, children, religion, disabilities and lifestyle habits).

Close your interview well

Set aside the last 10% of the interview to thank the candidates for coming and to tell them what to expect as the next steps. Use this time also to answer any questions from the candidate about your company.

Explain the job to the candidate with as much detail as possible. This investment of time and effort will set the candidate’s expectations early and prevent future agony.

The most effective interviews enable you to select candidates with the best fit, not necessarily the ‘perfect’ ones. Selecting over-qualified people carries risks.

And finally, remember it is better to recruit for attitude and train for skills. Conduct your job interviews well and the right people will join your company, which is more than ample reward.

— Ravi Bhuthapuri